This summer Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, LeBron James, and their wives rented a yacht together in Spain. Soon after the trip, D-Wade told Kelly Ripa that LeBron refused to turn on his data roaming when out of range of the yacht’s Wi-Fi. Now, this makes you think, if a bazillionaire doesn’t want to pay for data, no one does. Anyone who regularly travels internationally has to ask himself the question: Why does mobile data cost so freaking much? If you’re not vigilant about living in airplane mode, it can be very easy to get skewered by the phone company. And it happens to the best of us…like the time I went to Tahiti and racked up $1,000 in data charges within 15 minutes of hitting French Polynesia.

After that trip, I vowed to take charge of my travel tech and quickly found a bunch of simple work-arounds that will keep you ’gramming, snapping, tweeting, and Google Mapping—even when you’re thousands of miles from home. I do this every summer when I’m in Italy. I don’t know about you, but when I travel, the thing I value the most is feeling like a local—and having a powered-up and dialed-in smartphone with a slew of apps chewing through data is the first step. From there, I just have to remember to look up from my phone every now and then to take in the epic views.

Here’s everything you need to do it right.

Hack the Data Waves

Because prepaid mobile 4G costs a fraction of what you would pay for your U.S. data-roaming plan, the first thing you need is the mobile Wi-Fi unit known as a Huawei 4G mini device. (Make sure you get the unlocked version.) Then buy a pre-paid SIM card when you arrive in whatever far-flung destination you find yourself in. Huawei is not a well-known brand in the States—and apparently the U.S. government has security concerns about using the Chinese manufacturer—but it doesn’t really bother me if Beijing knows I’m deep into streaming season two of Narcos on my vacation.

I swing by the local TIM shop, flash my passport, load up, and get the Wi-Fi flowing. This past summer in Florence, I got a deal on 30 gigabytes’ worth of data for 50 euros, which meant I could wake up every night at 3 a.m. and stream the NBA Finals without fear of bankruptcy. If you don’t want to buy the MiFi device, there are also services that rent mobile Wi-Fi all over the globe. In Japan, you can take delivery via Japan Post right at your hotel. In Iceland, for an extra ten euros a day, a mobile Wi-Fi machine was included with the Land Rover we rented and came with unlimited data. That noise you hear is the sweet sound of the phone company’s accounting department crying.

Never Be Powerless

The next challenge when it comes to being outward-bound is battery life. My favorite power-charger brand is Anker. Its smart-charger ports automatically know what current to deliver to all my various devices, so along with an outlet converter from the simplicity masters at Muji ($25, above), that’s my charging hub back at the hotel. But it’s also crucial to have an extra mobile-battery backup to keep that Wi-Fi pumping out the Spotify and navigation. And Anker makes simple power bricks that work really well. The version I like has multiple USB ports for different devices, and it packs a big punch of power, giving me something crazy like five iPhone recharges. Take this thing to Burning Man and everyone in your commune can power their mindfulness apps—and still have enough juice to call for a ride out of there when it all becomes too much. Gone is the stress of always searching for a place to recharge. Gone is the desperation of sitting on the airport floor, wheezing juice from a wall outlet.

The Best Tools for Your Job

Because I travel with a camera and lens that have to be carried on, my focus is always on simplifying my kit—eliminating extras and getting ever lighter. Being able to do more with less led me to switch to the Apple iPad Pro (with the Apple keyboard cover) as a laptop replacement. It’s smaller and lighter, and the TSA says it doesn’t need to come out of my bag at security. It also means I don’t need to haul around a laptop charger.

Keep it All Together

If you travel with any sort of frequency, you need to find ways to be more efficient—especially with packing. When I'm away I want to have what I need, when I need it. The more you unpack and repack the higher the chances that you will forget your charger at home and then be forced to spend 10x on a replacement at SFO. To ensure I never get gouged on the road I use Topo Designs utility bags to hold an extra set of my wires, chargers and other little devices. That way when I pack I have everything all ready to go in one place, so I can waste the time I save not packing on Instagram watching golf videos.

Enhance the Visuals

If you’re going to carry a camera, like I do, it better be worth it. Leica can carry a serious price tag, but the image quality, color and richness you get are so wonderful and unique that it becomes a no-brainer to reach for this instead of your smartphone to document your travels.

Michael Williams is the founder of the blog A Continuous Lean—and many other stellar menswear-related projects.

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